The question is, can they handle prosperity? Do they even know what to do with it?

With the myriad problems besieging Obamacare,
from the non-rollout to the minuscule number of enrollees in the health
insurance exchanges, this is no time for gloating. Rather, it is time
for Republicans to get very, very busy with their own ideas for
across-the-board reforms.

The party of "no" must become the party of "we
can, too!" This doesn’t mean sacrificing core principles, though some
could use a little shelf time. It does mean picking battles Republicans
can win and avoiding skirmishes that further alienate centrists and
minorities.

Forget building a larger tent, which
increasingly looks like a pup for two white guys and a flashlight. Ditch
the tent and build a coliseum. Install Doric columns, if you like, and
grab an obelisk on your way to redemption. At no extra cost, here’s an
inscription for the keystone: Waste not, want less. Waste not this
moment; want less than perfection and aim for the possible.

This was always House Speaker John Boehner’s
battle plan, but he finally concluded that leading his conference where
it wanted to go was preferable to inciting a civil war. In a recent
interview, Boehner told me he thinks at least some of the
better-death-than-compromise caucus had come around to understanding
that attaching Obamacare to the continuing resolution, resulting in the
government shutdown, was the wrong tactic.

Even so, "at least some" may not be enough. And
who knows what Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has up his sleeve as new
deadlines loom for budget and debt-ceiling negotiations early next year?

In the meantime, House and Senate Republicans
have a small window, while Obamacare is hugging the shoals, to show why
their ideas are best. Americans frustrated with Congress and
disappointed by the president are primed for someone to pick up the
bullhorn and say, "We hear you."

It’s too bad "compassionate conservatism" has
become tarnished because compassion is what is needed in today’s GOP
playbook: Compassion for the hungry whose food stamps House Republicans
excised from the farm bill; compassion for 11 million immigrants who are
prisoners in illegal limbo; compassion for gays, lesbians and others
seeking protection against workplace discrimination.

These are not such difficult choices in the
scheme of things. How to guarantee that Iran can’t weaponize its nuclear
capability? That’s tough. Not so tough: Helping the poor feed their
families, finding a path for citizenship along with other immigration
reforms, extending equal protections to individuals whose sexual
orientation should not be a firing offense.

The Senate also has passed a comprehensive
immigration bill with the help of 14 Republicans that contains a
relatively strenuous path to citizenship that includes paying back taxes
and fines, and getting in line behind others seeking citizenship.
Hardly a giveaway. Even so, some Republicans aren’t on board with the
path to citizenship. Although Boehner told me he hopes to get an
immigration bill to the House floor next year, others say 2014’s midterm
elections make this unlikely.

Phooey.

What’s really not likely to happen is a
Republican White House — ever — without Latino voters. There’s only so
much Republicans can accomplish when they control only half of one-third
of government. Consider that the biggest states with the largest
concentrations of Hispanics — Florida, California, Texas and New York —
also convey 151 of the 270 electoral votes needed to be elected
president.

Appealing to Latinos doesn’t mean Republicans
have to pander or bow to President Obama’s wishes. It means doing the
right thing. Even though a slim majority of Americans (53 percent) think
most immigrants here illegally should be deported, according to a
Reuters/Ipsos online survey last February, a more recent NBC/Wall Street
Journal poll found that 65 percent favor a path to citizenship if it
requires essentially what the Senate bill proposes.

The draconian option of deportation would be an
unlovely sight. Not only would families be torn asunder, but America’s
crops would wither on the vine, as they did in Alabama after that
state’s crackdown prompted a sudden, mass exodus. Yet again, unyielding
principle prevailed over common sense and survival.

Time is of the essence if Republicans hope to
refresh their image in the public square. Picking battles wisely, acting
compassionately, creating rather than negating is the only way forward.
Jar the hardwoods, campers, there’s daylight in the swamp.